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Contact: Chris Guerre,
 Director, Public Relations
(703) 255-4096 or chrisg@wolftrap.org

Vienna, VA

Today, Friday, October 13, 2006, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts’ Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts announced significant results from the recent Fairfax (Fairfax County, Virginia) Pages program. This announcement coincides with National PTA Start the Art Week. The Fairfax Pages program and study, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, measures the impact of 14-week arts-in-education Teaching Artist residencies at three Fairfax County, Virginia preschool centers during the 2004-2005 school year. Professional Teaching Artists residencies in early childhood classrooms are the basis of the nationally acclaimed Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts.

The results of the study demonstrate that preschool children whose teachers participated in a 14-week classroom residency by a Wolf Trap professional Teaching Artist made quantifiable improvement in the following six categories – initiative, social relations, creative representation, movement and music, language and literacy, and mathematics and science. Children were assessed before and after Pages program implementation using the standardized, nationally validated Child Observation Record (COR), an observational assessment tool designed by High/Scope Educational Research Foundation and implemented throughout the Fairfax County Public School System during the 2004-2005 school year.

The 14-week program included teacher and Teaching Artist professional development seminars, Teaching Artist classroom participation, and workshops designed to facilitate the sharing of best practices and discussion among participating teachers. By creating a partnership between the Wolf Trap Teaching Artist, who serves as a mentor and technical assistance provider, and the teacher, the program developed customized residency plans that were aligned with the literacy objectives, creative interests, and teaching styles of participating teachers.

Dr. Douglas Klayman, President of Social Dynamics, LLC, a social research and evaluation firm located in Potomac, Maryland, conducted the evaluation. An executive summary of his findings can be found here.

More information on the National PTA Start the Art Week can be found here: http://www.pta.org/ne_press_release_detail_1160171721703.html